Sharjah Art Foundation's March Meeting 2022 to tackle post-colonialism

The programme will take place from March 5 to 7 at Sharjah Art Foundation

Sharjah Art Foundation's annual March Meeting brings together academics, artists, curators and art practitioners to discuss contemporary issues in art. Photo: Randi Sokoloff / The National

Sharjah Art Foundation has released details for its upcoming March Meeting, a programme of panels, talks and presentations on contemporary art that will be centered on issues of post-colonialism and the remnants of colonial systems this year.

Themed The Afterlives of the Postcolonial, the 14th edition of March Meeting (MM) will expand on ideas of racism, settler colonialism, apartheid and structural inequalities.

MM 2022 will take place starting March 5, a day after the opening of Sharjah Art Foundation’s spring exhibitions, which include artists such as Khalil Rabah and Lawrence Abu Hamdan. The programme will run until March 7.

Among the speakers of MM 2022 is Angela Davis, an American author and activist who is known for her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement in the US as well as her opposition to the country’s prison systems.

Davis is a keynote speaker and will be in conversation with filmmaker and academic Manthia Diawara on March 7.

As part of the programme, MM 2022 will include panel discussions on settler colonialism and the displacement of indigenous people; the restitution and repatriation of looted artworks and artefacts, particularly in regard to the collections of western museums and their colonial links to parts of the Global South; and the ongoing issue of climate change.

The schedule also includes a film screening of Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996) by Isaac Julien. The film includes interviews and archival footage that speak of the life and work of anti-colonial writer Fanon, who mostly wrote in the context of Algerian independence from France. The screening will take place on March 5.

On March 6, Turner Prize winner Lawrence Abu Hamdan will present his live visual essay Daght Jawi at The Flying Saucer in Sharjah. Abu Hamdan is known for his sound-based investigations into politics and human rights abuses.

MM 2022 will close with an artist-led tour of the show Revolution and Image-making in Postcolonial Ghana (1979-1985) by Gerald Annan-Forson, a photographer who has documented the social landscape of Accra for decades.

Other speakers involved in this year’s programme include artists Brook Andrew, John Akomfrah, Carolina Caycedo, Bouchra Khalil, Rachid Koraichi, Khalil Rabah and Ala Younis. Academics such as Premesh Lalu, Naminata Diabate, Walter Mignolo, Francoise Verges and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak will also take part.

To attend MM 2022, visitors must present green status on the Al Hosn app at the venue.

Information about the full schedule and list of speakers is available on sharjahart.org